Chapter Three: Retraining the Mind

VIII. Judgment and the Authority Problem

61 We have already discussed
the Last Judgment in some though insufficient detail. After the Last
Judgment there will be no more. This is symbolic only in the sense
that everyone is much better off without judgment. When the
Bible says, "Judge not that ye be not judged" it merely
means that if you judge the reality of others at all, you will be
unable to avoid judging your own. The choice to judge rather than to
know was the cause of the loss of peace. Judgment is the process on
which perception, but not cognition, rests. We have discussed
this before in terms of the selectivity of perception, pointing out
that evaluation is its obvious prerequisite.

62 Judgment always
involves rejection. It is not an ability which emphasizes only
the positive aspects of what is judged, whether it be in or out of
the self. However, what has been perceived and rejectedor
judged and found wantingremains in the unconscious because it
has been perceived. One of the illusions from which man
suffers is the belief that what he judged against has no effect. This
cannot be true unless he also believes that what he judged against
does not exist. He evidently does not believe this, or he
would not have judged against it. It does not matter in the end
whether you judge right or wrong. Either way, you are placing your
belief in the unreal. This cannot be avoided in any type of judgment
because it implies the belief that reality is yours to choose
from.

63 You have no idea of the
tremendous release and deep peace that comes from meeting yourselves
and your brothers totally without judgment. When you recognize what
you and your brothers are, you will realize that judging them
in any way is without meaning. In fact, their meaning is lost
to you precisely because you are judging them. All uncertainty
comes from a totally fallacious belief that you are under the
coercion of judgment. You do not need judgment to organize your life,
and you certainly do not need it to organize yourselves. In the
presence of knowledge, all judgment is automatically
suspended, and this is the process which enables recognition to
replace perception.

64 Man is very fearful of
everything he has perceived but has refused to accept. He believes
that, because he has refused to accept it, he has lost control over
it. This is why he sees it in nightmares or in pleasant disguises in
what seem to be his happier dreams. Nothing that you have refused to
accept can be brought into awareness. It does not follow that
it is dangerous, but it does follow that you have made
it dangerous.

65 When you feel tired, it is
merely because you have judged yourself as capable of being tired.
When you laugh at someone, it is because you have judged him as
debased. When you laugh at yourself, you are singularly likely to
laugh at others, if only because you cannot tolerate the idea of
being more debased than they are. All of this does make you feel
tired because it is essentially disheartening. You are not
really capable of being tired, but you are very capable
of wearying yourselves. The strain of constant judgment is virtually
intolerable. It is a curious thing that any ability which is so
debilitating should be so deeply cherished.

66 Yet, if you wish to be the
author of reality, which is totally impossible anyway, you
will insist on holding onto judgment. You will also use the
term with considerable fear, believing that judgment will someday be
used against you. To whatever extent it is used against
you, it is due only to your belief in its efficacy as a weapon of
defense for your own authority. The issue of authority is really a
question of authorship. When an individual has an "authority
problem," it is always because he believes he is the
author of himself, projects his delusion onto others, and then
perceives the situation as one in which people are literally fighting
him for his authorship. This is the fundamental error of all those
who believe they have usurped the power of God.

67 The belief is very
frightening to them but hardly troubles God. He is, however,
eager to undo it, not to punish His Children, but only
because He knows that it makes them unhappy. Souls were given
their true Authorship, but men preferred to be anonymous when they
chose to separate themselves from their Author. The word
"authority" has been one of their most fearful symbols ever
since. Authority has been used for great cruelty because, being
uncertain of their true Authorship, men believe that their creation
was anonymous. This has left them in a position where it
sounds meaningful to consider the possibility that they must
have created themselves.

68 The dispute over
authorship has left such uncertainty in the minds of men that some
have even doubted whether they really exist at all. Despite the
apparent contradiction in this position, it is in one sense more
tenable than the view that they created themselves. At least it
acknowledges the fact that some true authorship is necessary
for existence.

69 Only those who give over
all desire to reject can know that their own rejection is
impossible. You have not usurped the power of God, but you
have lost it. Fortunately, when you lose something, it does
not mean that the "something" has gone. It merely means
that you do not know where it is. Existence does not depend on your
ability to identify it nor even to place it. It is perfectly possible
to look on reality without judgment and merely know that it is
there.

70 Peace is a natural
heritage of the Soul. Everyone is free to refuse to accept his
inheritance, but he is not free to establish what his
inheritance is. The problem which everyone must decide is the
fundamental question of authorship. All fear comes ultimately and
sometimes by way of very devious routes from the denial of
Authorship. The offense is never to God, but only to those who deny
Him. To deny His Authorship is to deny themselves the reason for
their own peace, so that they see themselves only in pieces. This
strange perception is the authority problem.

71 There is no man who does
not feel that he is imprisoned in some way. If this is the result of
his own free will, he must regard his will as if it were not
free, or the obviously circular reasoning involved in his position
would be quite apparent. Free will must lead to freedom.
Judgment always imprisons because it separates segments of
reality according to the highly unstable scales of desire. Wishes are
not facts by definition. To wish is to imply that willing is not
sufficient. Yet no one believes that what is wished is as real as
what is willed. Instead of, "Seek ye first the Kingdom of
Heaven" say, "Will ye first the Kingdom of
Heaven," and you have said, "I know what I am, and I will
to accept my own inheritance."

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